Shelter gives dogs second chance at life

November 15, 2008|ALICIA GALLEGOS Tribune Staff Writer

MISHAWAKA -- Cozy in their cages during the two-hour drive toward the unknown, the dogs likely had no idea the size of the welcome home party awaiting their arrival. As the two trucks pulled into Pet Refuge, a wave of cheers sounded and a group of smiling volunteers eagerly surrounded the vehicle to unload the animals. Just as the dogs had no way of knowing where they were, or how elated these humans were to see them, they also hadn't a clue of how close they had come to death. The 10 dogs were part of 88 animals that were left over when the Marion-Grant County Humane Society in Marion, Ind., had to close its doors, explained Anne Sterling with the Humane Society of the United States. The shelter had lost its funding from the county after the city decided to build their own animal facility and provide their own animal control, said shelter manager Diane Wellman. Wellman said the city also refused to take in animals from the old facility, and instead said they didn't want to immediately fill up the new facility with old animals and that there were concerns of disease transmission. Despite the shelter's efforts to adopt the remaining animals, time was running out. The now-orphaned animals faced being euthanized. Luckily for the shelter and luckier for the animals was that shelters across the country stepped up to help out. Pet Refuge in Indiana agreed to take their share of dogs, as did other shelters in Indiana, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri. Eventually, all the animals from the closing shelter were accounted for.